Nuala Haughey
in Jerusalem
A cross-party group of Irish politicians arrived in Jerusalem last night with the international relief and development agency, Christian Aid, for a five-day fact-finding visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories.
The group consists of the former minister of state at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Ms Liz O'Donnell from the Progressive Democrats, Fine Gael TD Mr Simon Coveney and Independent Senator David Norris.
They will visit human rights and development organisations which are partners with Christian Aid in Israel and the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.
They will meet representatives of the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli foreign ministry, as well as members of the Irish-Israeli Friendship League.
The group plans to visit the Gaza Strip today and tomorrow to observe the work of organisations such as the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights and the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees, a development association which helps farmers improve agricultural methods and also distributes emergency relief.
They are also scheduled to visit the Culture and Free Thought Association, which works with traumatised children in Khan Younis, a Palestinian refugee camp close to Jewish settlements in the southern Gaza Strip.
Speaking before leaving for her first visit to the region, Ms O'Donnell said she hoped to "see the facts on the ground and meet people on both sides rather than have a fixed agenda".
Mr Coveney, who has also not visited the Middle East before, said there were a lot of preconceived ideas of what was happening in the region. "It's very helpful that policy-makers would go out and see what's happening and formulate a view on what they see. I am anxious that it will be a very balanced visit."
Christian Aid Ireland's policy officer, Mr Oisín Coghlan, said there had been a steep increase in poverty among Palestinians in recent years, with almost three-quarters now living on less than US$2 a day, the official UN poverty line.
"We are bringing the TDs and senator to see the challenges facing local organisations trying to tackle poverty and see at first hand the political and human rights situation which is making poverty worse," he said. The Irish Government gives some funding through Christian Aid to some of its partner organisations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.